Cumberland County working to make all polling places ADA accessible

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania has reached a settlement with Cumberland County about its polling place locations.

The Department of Justice has been conducting surveys of polling places nationwide since March 2016, making sure they are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

52 of 118 polling places in Cumberland County were surveyed. Chairman County Commissioner Vince DiFilippo says 36 of the 52 had minor violations.

“They were very minor and most of them have already been addressed. The agreement we have with the Department of Justice goes through 2021. Most of the minor issues have been addressed and those that haven’t, we are on a timeline to take care of those things such as present enough signage, adding door stops and that type of thing.”

Other violations included potted plants in people’s walkway.

Most of the buildings used for election voting are schools, government buildings and libraries. The county doesn’t own these buildings, it only rents them out twice a year, DiFilippo said.

DiFilippo adds that seven of the 52 surveyed locations may have to be moved at some point. That likely won’t happen until after the 2020 presidential election.

The county hasn’t received any complaints about its accessibility at polling places in 14 years, DiFilippo says.